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I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

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Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#191

Post by exolymph »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #51
namrog84 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I learned my lesson to not talk about such things I like how you shared how you learned lesson to not share mischievous activities with people in the same post you then go and share more things you haven't been caught for. This is going on your permanent school record! /s That's great. I know even as of recent of 2021 I've seen some places that had 0 security on things.

> I like how you shared how you learned lesson to not share mischievous activities with people in the same post you then go and share more things you haven't been caught for American public schools are quite adept at teaching distrust in authority, particularly in bureaucrats. That doesn't mean distrust in everybody.

Lol, yup, we encounter the principal-agent problem early.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#192

Post by wfn »

nickagliano wrote: post #99

Did anyone else look into his Stanford biography page? Pretty insane stuff. https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/ http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/bucket/ In a section headed by an anime girl, he claims to have, "figured out when and how a bunch of other fantasies got into our DNA and will shortly post an article on this web site that will explain how that happened, why it is causing modern humans to make billions of…

> Did anyone else look into his Stanford biography page?

It's great; it's called wit. :)

If you want a more conventional boring bio, there's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Earnest

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#193

Post by jimt1234 »

Around 1983, me and a few friends were into "war dialing". We found a bank, did about a half-day of research (default logins for popular systems used by banks), and were able to get into the system. We all got bored and stopped poking around after a day or so - we were kids, none of us understand anything about banking. But one kid continued to poke around for months, and he was making changes, too - like, creating his own "backdoor" accounts. Well, naturally we all got caught, not because of some technical task force or anything, but rather because the one kid was bragging about it on a bunch of local BBS's. Then he ratted out the rest of us.

Keep in mind this was around 1983; it was a different time - "computer crimes" didn't really exist, nor the people to investigate them. And that's basically how we all escaped any significant consequences. I was totally unaware of all this at the time, but it was explained to me later in life (by my mother, who is still bitter about it - sorry, mom; you bought me the Commodore 64! LOL) that the FBI didn't really consider it a crime because nothing was stolen. The local cops proposed "trespassing", but we never stepped foot in the bank; we didn't even know where it was.

Thankfully this was just prior to the release of "War Games". Everything changed after that movie. Law enforcement started to pay attention. There were stories about the FBI investigating kids on local BBS's, thinking they were working for the Soviet Union, trying to access military secrets or something like that.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#194

Post by authoritawayu »

908B64B197 wrote: post #154
pixiemaster wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s a hidden lesson, only for privileged kids.

How is that a lesson for privileged kids only?

Because in the United States, unprivileged kids often get thrown into what we call the "school-to-prison pipeline" for inconveniencing authority figures.

Unfortunately, they end up learning a different sort of hidden lesson.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#196

Post by amatecha »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #124
bitwize wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A year and a half ago, I found an entire HP Elite 8300 standing by the dumpster in the rain. It was only missing a hard disk (likely removed to be shredded). I brought it in, checked it for rust or damage, let it dry for several days, and ordered a hard drive for it. It runs fine, and I use it as a repo/build server.

Nice. I have an SGI Indigo that I will probably never be able to use again because I forgot its login credentials years ago. And I think the monitor was proprietary to SGI and I tossed because it took up too much room. Then again, I could probably find a downloadable OS for it somewhere online.

You can definitely boot that SGI in single-user mode or off a bootable OS and read the passwd file. Just found a guide on resetting the root password on an SGI machine[0]. Someone probably would have paid multiple $hundred for that monitor :(

[0] https://software.majix.org/irix/admin-password.shtml

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#197

Post by amatecha »

bitwize wrote: post #97
amatecha wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found entire, functional computers thrown out. My first web server was a 386 built from dumpster-dived parts, quickly upgraded to a 486 as I found new stuff. I still have those computers, too. It's amazing how wasteful people are with tech. People, please don't throw out working computers if you can avoid it. Take them to a thrift shop or a specialized place that will fix them up and sell them, like Free Geek. P…

A year and a half ago, I found an entire HP Elite 8300 standing by the dumpster in the rain. It was only missing a hard disk (likely removed to be shredded). I brought it in, checked it for rust or damage, let it dry for several days, and ordered a hard drive for it. It runs fine, and I use it as a repo/build server.

That's awesome!! Great find indeed. The best working system I ever found was a Pentium 4.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#198

Post by jll29 »

KineticLensman wrote: post #145
nickagliano wrote: post #99

Did anyone else look into his Stanford biography page? Pretty insane stuff. https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/ http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/bucket/ In a section headed by an anime girl, he claims to have, "figured out when and how a bunch of other fantasies got into our DNA and will shortly post an article on this web site that will explain how that happened, why it is causing modern humans to make billions of…

Let me die a youngman's death not a clean and inbetween the sheets holywater death not a famous-last-words peaceful out of breath death When I'm 73 and in constant good tumour may I be mown down at dawn by a bright red sports car on my way home from an allnight party Or when I'm 91 with silver hair and sitting in a barber's chair may rival gangsters with hamfisted tommyguns burst in and give me a short back and insid…

...a poem by Liverpudlian poet Roger McGough (1967)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_McGough

The Cavern referenced in the poem is a music club in which the Beatle played at the time, now it's tourist trap with canned pop music (what Brits call "cheesy music").

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#199

Post by dfgjdfgjjdfg »

torpid wrote: post #27

My FBI file was for hacking into my school district's AS/400 that handled my school's attendance and grading system. Somehow using a public IP address with no access restrictions allowed a clear telnet path in from home. Compounding username and passwords that were all the same for every employee. I didn't change a thing, just LOLed and told someone. Bad mistake. This was the late 90s. Oh well, 2 week suspension and…

With all the shenanigans I was into as a turn of the century high school student, I'm incredibly lucky to have never had a (known) FBI run-in.

At my first high school I was expelled for selling teachers a boot floppy that disabled the district's security software (Fortress) on their machine.

At my second high school I was busted twice, once for selling CDs with a much anticipated unreleased movie, and the second time for finding (and copying) a network share that had every student's school photo from that year before they could even purchase it.

Nevermind all the unsavory nonsense I did outside of school and was luckily never busted for.

Re: I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography (2015)

#200

Post by skissane »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #51
namrog84 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I learned my lesson to not talk about such things I like how you shared how you learned lesson to not share mischievous activities with people in the same post you then go and share more things you haven't been caught for. This is going on your permanent school record! /s That's great. I know even as of recent of 2021 I've seen some places that had 0 security on things.

> I like how you shared how you learned lesson to not share mischievous activities with people in the same post you then go and share more things you haven't been caught for American public schools are quite adept at teaching distrust in authority, particularly in bureaucrats. That doesn't mean distrust in everybody.

> American public schools are quite adept at teaching distrust in authority, particularly in bureaucrats.

I wonder to what extent that property is primarily due to them being schools, or primarily due to them being public, or primarily due to them being American, or is it some combination of the three?

My own impression (having experienced both as a child) is that private schools are less prone to bureaucratic inflexibility than public ones, which is one of the reasons why my wife & I have chosen private schooling for our children. But, not the US, so our experiences may not be directly comparable.

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